Definition

Noun: 1. A lump or chunk of raw meat: A piece of meat, often raw, of a size that can be swallowed or eaten in one mouthful. 2. A piece or extract of text: A short passage or extract from a text, especially one set for translation, comment, or analysis in an examination or scholarly work.

Usage Examples

• As a piece of meat:
  • The falcon was fed a gobbet of fresh liver.
  • In medieval feasts, large gobbets of meat were served on trenchers of bread.
• As a piece of text:
  • The exam required students to translate a gobbet from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
  • Her analysis focused on a key gobbet from the treaty.

Advanced Usage

• "Gobbet" is a somewhat specialized or literary term. In modern academic contexts, especially in history, literature, or classics, it is the standard term for a short excerpt from a primary source text presented for analysis.
  • The professor distributed a handout with several gobbets from 18th-century political pamphlets.
• It can be used metaphorically to describe any isolated piece or morsel of information.
  • He offered us only gobbets of information, never the full story.

Variants and Related Words

• Gob (noun): A lump or clot of a slimy or viscous substance. (e.g., ). Also, informal British English for "mouth".
• Gobble (verb): To eat something hurriedly and noisily. (e.g., ).

Synonyms

• Chunk: A thick, solid piece of something.
• Morsel: A small piece of food; can also refer to a small amount of something.
• Excerpt: A short extract from a film, broadcast, or piece of writing.
• Fragment: A small part broken or separated off something.

Notes on Meaning

The two primary meanings are connected by the idea of a detached piece or portion. The original, now archaic, sense relates to a piece of food. The more common contemporary usage is academic, referring to a piece of text. The word often implies the piece is presented in isolation for a specific purpose (e.g., to be consumed, translated, or critiqued).

Noun

1. a lump or chunk of raw meat